Cover Story
The H Factor
My quest was simple: Find the smartest person in Humboldt. Well, OK, actually it was a troublesome task. Almost as impossible as finding Bigfoot — except at least our smarties leave bona fide droppings around, indications of their intelligence for a keen person to pick up and stuff in her hunting cap. My plan, too,…
Relief in Samoa
There’s a bright new beacon of hope out on the Samoa Peninsula, which we figure dune lovers and gotta-go antsy foot-hoppers can’t help but appreciate. Yes, it’s a public portable toilet, rented for $80 a month from B&B by the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District for the benefit of those frequenting the wilds…
Get Your Crime Map
Your neighbors are talking about it — how So-and-So’s garage was broken into and What’s-His-Name’s car up the street was finagled open and the Christmas goodies on the backseat lifted. Seems as if burglaries and such are happening up and down the danged block these days. Or are these just rumors … ? There is…
Eureka! They Found It
The Discovery Museum has found a permanent home. A few weeks after finding temporary digs in the Jefferson School on B Street, the kid-friendly learny zone announced it will move into a space at 612 G Street (the former Back in Action building, between Sixth and Seventh streets) in spring 2015. The museum had to…
A Home With Help
This January, Pacific Builders will begin construction on the 32-unit Arcata Bay Crossing, a residence for people who need special assistance and, in many cases, face homelessness. The $4.5 to $5.7 million “green,” solar-arrayed project — to be funded by grants and loans — is a joint project of Housing Humboldt, Rural Communities Housing Development…
To us!
Dear Esteemed Readers, We’re often warned about assumption. Fair enough — not everything is as it appears. But you often can judge a book by its cover and your instincts exist for a reason. Also, I need a hook upon which to hang this column, so let us postulate for this week are that you, like…
Journey’s End
Reviews WILD. I had to get over a few things in order to give Wild a fair shake: mostly my frustration at a protagonist defined largely by self-involvement and hubris and my inherent cynicism about what would appear to be an A-list actor’s vanity project/attempt at another Oscar nomination. Reese Witherspoon, who plays Cheryl Strayed…
Tiny Answers
Editor: Thank you for stimulating the conversation on homeless housing with your articles “It’s Time for an Opportunity Village,” by Jim Hight, Nov. 6, and the “AHHA Talks Housing for the Homeless” blog post by Linda Stansberry on Nov. 17. Affordable Homeless Housing Alternatives (AHHA) thanks the whole community, including the 260 who attended our…
SUP with That?
Editor: I got so excited when I turned the page in the Dec. 18 issue of the Journal to find a picture of an older woman using a stand-up paddle board and dove right into the article (“Walk on Water: No Faith Required”). But as I read my heart sank. She mentioned the physical hurdle…
Salamat
Editor: I enjoyed Peri Escarda’s article, “Adobo for the Soul” (Dec. 11), both for the recipe and for her writing. Being Filipino-American, it is always nice to see something that brings a touch of filipino culture to the county. Ricardo Febre, Arcata
Correction
The Dec. 18, Filmland, “Promised Lands,” contained a pair of geographical errors. In the movie The Homesman, Hilary Swank and Tommy Lee Jones’ characters were headed for Iowa and the Nile was the river on which an infant Moses was set afloat, as the story goes. The Journal regrets committing these geographical errors of biblical…
Before You Forgive Someone
1. You don’t have to forgive. Our spiritual leaders (and Facebook feeds) encourage the idea that forgiveness helps us heal — there’s that saying, “Holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die,” which is a fine saying, but it glosses over the fact that anger can be useful; anger can serve as a way of…
Horror Movies
Two years before George W. Bush left office, Universal Studios produced a movie called American Dreamz in which terrorists planned to kill the president — portrayed by Dennis Quaid as a manipulated idiot — in a suicide attack on an American Idol-like TV singing contest. The movie never made back the $17 million it cost…
Secrets of Holiday Bartending
All this week, somebody, somewhere, is throwing a party. They will plan the menu and music to the letter, but when it comes to the bar … things fall apart. Short of following a bartending guide to stock up on dozens of ingredients you will likely never use, most people have no idea how to…
Stick in the mud
I threw a stick more like a fat rounded hunk of wood that was weathered grey like a piece of Florida clay heavy dense dry if I put it in a fire it would burn forever I held it in my fat fingers gripping drawing strength standing on the edge of the bay the water…
Pot Turnaround on Tribal Lands
Following a trend of relaxing marijuana policy, the Department of Justice announced recently that it will no longer prosecute people who grow marijuana on tribal lands. Though the Obama administration recently said something similar regarding states where marijuana has been legalized, the move was unanticipated and, in places, unwelcome, according to reports. Many tribes prohibit…
Ring in the Old
How about a retro New Year’s? On Wednesday, Dec. 31 at 8 p.m., return to the days of bobby socks, pompadours and friendly relations with Cuba. At the River Lodge Conference Center, The Delta Nationals play classic American dance tunes to keep you going like Run-around Sue until the complimentary Champagne toast when the clock…
